Objectives. In this study, we investigated the experiences of post-secondary computer science mentors and secondary student mentees in a mentorship program within secondary computer science classrooms. Specifically, we examined how mentors’ practices and aspects of the program supported mentees during robotics activities. Additionally, we explored the challenges faced by both mentors and mentees, as well as the opportunities for reciprocal learning and growth that emerged from these experiences.

Participants. Participants included post-secondary computer science student mentors and secondary student mentees from computer science classes at two different secondary schools.

Study Method. This research employed a qualitative case study approach. Data were collected through two focus group interviews with nine post-secondary computer science mentors and four focus group interviews with 15 secondary student mentees. The analysis involved open coding followed by thematic analysis.

Findings. Using Self-Determination Theory as a framework, the findings revealed how mentors and the mentorship program supported mentees in mastering robotics concepts and skills, building rapport with mentors and peers, and experiencing autonomy and choice in their projects. Challenges stemming from cultural differences between mentors and mentees led to reciprocal learning, with mentors enhancing their cultural awareness.

Conclusions. This study offers a holistic understanding of mentoring in K-12 classrooms by evaluating both mentors’ and mentees’ experiences alongside program-specific features. As mentoring programs are often situated in post-secondary education or informal learning environments, this research highlights how computer science mentoring can be effectively adapted to K-12 classrooms, addressing these settings’ unique opportunities and challenges. Practical recommendations are offered for designing effective mentorship programs in K-12 classrooms.

Mice offer a wealth of opportunities for investigating brain circuits regulating multiple behaviors, largely due to their genetic tractability. Social behaviors are translationally relevant, considering both mice and humans are highly social mammals, and human social behavior disruptions are key symptoms of myriad neuropsychiatric disorders. Stresses related to social experiences are particularly influential in the severity and maintenance of neuropsychiatric disorders like anxiety disorders and trauma and stressor-related disorders. Yet, induction and study of social stress in mice has disproportionately focused on males, influenced heavily by their inherent territorial nature. Social target-instigated stress (i.e., defeat), while ethologically relevant, is quite variable and predominantly specific to males, making rigorous and sex-inclusive studies challenging. In pursuit of a controllable, consistent, high-throughput, and sex-inclusive method for social stress elicitation, we modified a paradigm to train male and female F1 129S1/SvlmJ × C57BL/6J mice to associate (via classical conditioning) same or different sex C57BL/6J targets with a mild, aversive stimulus. While further paradigm optimization is required, social interaction testing 24 h after conditioning indicates males socially conditioned better to male targets by exhibiting reduced social interaction, whereas females appeared not to form social stimulus associations. Serum corticosterone levels inversely corresponded to social avoidance after different sex, but not same sex, conditioning, suggesting corticosterone-mediated arousal influences cross-sex interactions. These rigorously controlled null outcomes align with past pursuits’ limited success in creating a sex-inclusive social stress paradigm.

In Moral Issues: How Public Opinion on Abortion and Gay Rights Affects American Religion and Politics, Goren and Chapp investigate the role of attitudes about moral issues within the mass public in the United States shaping Americans' political and religious identities. Their work is positioned as contributing to core debates in the field of political behavior concerning issue attitudes. Namely, mainstream political science research maintains that issue attitudes have minimal effects on political behavior and core identities, a view Goren and Chapp's work challenges. This article reviews the core debates and their findings regarding the special impact of moral issues in recent decades. They find evidence consistent with their theory that Americans' views about moral issues have solidified over time and now are strongly associated with both partisanship and religious disaffiliation. In doing so they breathe new life into classic debates.

Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tests are sensitive to the declines in semantic processes found in persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Though most settings use the total number of words generated as the primary index of performance on SVF tests, there is reason to believe that SVF interval scores (e.g., the number of words generated at four, 15-second intervals) or performance slopes derived from these interval scores (i.e., the change in rate of word generation across the four 15-second intervals) may be even more sensitive to cognitive changes in the early stages of MCI. The goal of the current review is to provide preliminary evidence on the use of interval scores in persons with MCI due to AD relative to healthy controls (HCs). Following PRISMA guidelines, this systematic review synthesizes existing literature across PubMed, PsychINFO, and Web of Science electronic databases that utilize SVF interval data in individuals who are on average 60+ with a clinical diagnosis of MCI in the context of AD. Database searches identified 494 articles. After the screening process, eighteen eligible articles (n = 1,081 participants) comparing persons with MCI to HCs were retained. The most common interval methods used were two 30-second intervals, four 15-second intervals, and six 10-second intervals, and the “animals” prompt was most frequently used. Results revealed worsening word generation across intervals and initial performance was consistently worse in persons with MCI due to AD. Only one study did not show added utility of interval scores over traditional total scores. These initial findings encourage further investigation into the potential benefits of using interval scores and/or performance slopes from SVF testing for clinical and research applications.

Having transitioned from a terrestrial lifestyle to an aquatic one over evolutionary time, cetaceans are prime subjects for the study of reduced olfaction. Here, we investigated the size of the cribriform plate in extant Artiodactyla and fossil whales. We also investigated the number of olfactory receptor (OR) genes encoded in artiodactyl genomes and found that the size of the cribriform plate is positively correlated with the number of OR genes among extant species. We extended this finding to fossil whales and estimated that a loss of genes occurred during the early/middle Eocene, before cetaceans became obligately aquatic. Extant toothed whales have reduced olfaction, but two Miocene toothed whales are predicted to have as many or more OR genes than extant baleen whales. Therefore, some fossil toothed whales might have had some olfaction. For their body size, extant baleen whales have cribriform plates that are similar in size to that of the dromedary camel, which is consistent with the growing evidence that baleen whales have retained some olfaction. As the first quantitative, morphological analysis of cetacean olfaction across the land-to-water transition, our study facilitates further study of olfactory neuroanatomy and the link between olfactory phenotype and genotype.